Memory of Darkness
by Misbegotten Misfit
Summary: Artemis creates a virtual world(Skyrim) where he can live his life without the expectations of his family to worry about. After a while this world starts to drift from its programing and the people in it develope real emotions. He ends up falling in love with Serana, a vampire princess, and she asks him the marry her,causeing Artemis to have to make the biggest decision of his life
1. Chapter 1

Author: i really wanted to write this. Any refferences can be found at my deviantart page. Just take out the parathesis. .com

* * *

**Artemis stood, leaning on the balcony and staring out at the grey that stretched before him. He didn't pay much attention to it though because he was lost in thought. A lot had happened since he'd created this world and it had developed its own life, something he hadn't foreseen. Originally it was meant to be a game, but now it was much more. **

**A female voice interrupted his thinking, "Artemis?"**

**He turned to her, a look of surprise on his face that turned to worry when he saw her expression, and said, "Yes, Serana?"**

**The woman sighed and sat on the balcony's edge, looking out at the grey. She spoke with sarcasm, "A real great sight, isn't it?"**

**He looked at her seriously and tried to get her to tell him what was really on her mind, "What's wrong, Serana? I know you didn't come up here to talk about the view."**

**"You got me," she said, "I thought it'd be a good way to start the conversation. There's something I need to ask you."**

**He raised an eyebrow and said, "Whatever it is I'm here for you."**

**She nodded and continued, "Do you remember what you said when you found me? I've been thinking about it ever since then. You're not like other people, Artemis."**

**He looked to the ground thinking, ****_In more ways than you know…_**

**Serana pressed forward, determined to say what needed to be said, "I think about you a lot, all the time really. The things you say, what you do, everything about you fascinates me and I can't get you off my mind. We've been together for a while now and I was thinking that it may be nice to be something… more."**

**He looked up at her now, surprised, and asked, "What do you mean by more?"**

**She smiled kindly, her red eyes looking directly into his, "Artemis… What I'm trying to ask is, will you marry me?"**

* * *

"What are you up to, Artemis?"

"Huh?" the raven-haired teen asked, looking up from his computer. On the monitor to his right a centaur stared at him curiously and with a little suspicion. This took the boy by surprise, but he didn't let it show.

He cleared his throat and answered in the business-like tone that was normal for him, "I am constructing a system that will digitize a person into a virtual reality where they will be capable of interacting with objects and people in said reality."

The centaur wrinkled his nose for a moment then said, "So, it's an interactive video game?"

"No, Foaly, it will be a tool to use to conduct meetings with people around the world face-to-face without the need for actual travel. Say you and I were to schedule a meeting to discuss a new technology, the two of us would simply use this device to digitize ourselves into the virtual world that would be running on its own server. From there we would be able to have our meeting as we would normally without leaving our respective homes and return to the same place instantly when we are finished." Artemis responded matter-of-factly.

Foaly rolled his eyes and asked in an attempt to chance the subject, "What's with the bracelet?"

Artemis glanced at the silver band sitting next to his keyboard. He picked it up; opening it from the bottom, revealing that it was pliable by falling into a straight line when both ends had been freed. He wrapped it around his wrist and closed it once more, then pointed the top, which hand a tiny panel built into it, toward the webcam on top of his monitor. Once again he began to explain, "This 'bracelet' is the control mechanism to get in and out of the virtual space. By touching the panel a holographic screen will be projected to choose options from. The only option that will be available in reality will be to enter a virtual world, but once one enters a various number of options will appear based on clearance level and server choice. This is the first and only one I've created. I am currently setting up a world as a test before I proceed with creating the full version to be marketed."

"Ok. That's kind of impressive, but if I had wanted to do something like that I could have at any time." Foaly huffed.

Artemis ignored his comment and continued working on his project, typing in lines of coded that would create objects. Foaly, even though he didn't want to admit it, was interested in this project. He tried to sound uninterested as he asked, "So, what will it look like?"

Artemis didn't look up, but he replied by saying, "It will look exactly as it does now. The appearance of this prototype is also the final design."

The centaur rolled his eyes again and said, "I didn't mean the bracelet, mud boy! I meant the virtual world!"

"It will be a simple room," Artemis responded, "with a conference table and chairs. It's only a test."

"That seems kind of boring, Artemis. If I created a world, even as a test, I'd make it some place amazing. I mean, it's your world, so why not make it somewhere that you can be exactly what you want to be without the things in reality the hold you back?"

Artemis was silent for a while, thinking about what his friend had said. Eventually Foaly yawned and told the teen before leaving, "It's getting late, Mud boy. I'm off. Can't wait to hear how your big project's coming along tomorrow."

After another half hour Artemis erased the code he had written. _Nothing to hold me back…_ he thought to himself. He would never admit it, but Foaly had been right. He began writing a new code for an entire world of his own design, programming NPC's and places. It would be a world where he could do what he wanted, instead of the things that were expected of him. For years Artemis had worked to be what his father wanted him to be and to take over the family business as was expected of him. Even now, he tried hard to be what his parents wanted, though it was in a different way than before. The idea of a world where he could be his own person was something he couldn't deny that he wanted, so he spent the night creating it. By morning he had finished and fallen asleep at his keyboard.


	2. Chapter 2

Author: Another chapter in this story. Serana won't be in it for a while, i'm afraid. Artemis has to get to level 10 and i plan on having him join the Dark Brotherhood and completeing a few missions first, just so he gets the hang of things better.

* * *

Artemis placed the silver band on his wrist and touched the small screen on it. It projected a holographic screen with "Select World" on it followed by available virtual world to enter. There was only one, titled "Skyrim". He touched it on the holo-screen and waited. Immediately Artemis began to feel strange. He looked at his hand and saw it disintegrating before his eyes. For a minute he was startled by it, but then his vision went black and he couldn't see anything anymore, not even himself. He started to feel light-headed as if he'd faint, but that passed as quickly as it had come.

He found himself in a sort of grid-like place. He looked at his hand again. It was there like nothing had happened. Artemis looked around, taking in the details of his new location. He was standing on a platform and surround by layer upon layer of data screens that formed the walls. They went up as far as he could see, and he was sure they went down as well. A single holo-screen glowed at his side, still being projected from the silver band. He looked at it. It now displayed and avatar creation menu complete with options and a name box. The teen carefully looked through all the options then began making his avatar.

At first he made it look exactly like him, but he stopped and thought about before he hit the ok. He was happy with the way he looked, but he'd never actually done much to his appearance. It would hurt to experiment with just one thing. Going back through his options, Artemis decided to just try a different hairstyle for now. He casually flipped through them looking for something different from his usually short hair and wasn't very fond of what he saw. Eventually he stopped on one that caught his eye. It was black, like his hair, but it was modern and interesting. This hairstyle was cut in layers, the bottom layer being very long, past the shoulders, and growing shorter with each layer, eventually not even reaching the ears, with bangs that covered one eye. It would be considered "emo" by most people. Artemis didn't care though; he never did care about trends. The boy selected it and put in his name.

When he clicked finish he disappeared again, but only for a moment. As his vision cleared this time an entire world had materialized around him. His hands were bound and he was sitting in a renaissance-style wagon being pulled by a horse. The people in the cart with him were saying their dialogue just as he'd programmed it. As they entered the town of Helgen the rode past other NPC's and eventually stopped at the execution. Artemis paid attention to the process and winced when he saw the NPC's head being cut off. When he was put up to the block, despite knowing nothing would happen to him, Artemis found that he was nervous. He could feel everything that was happening and that made it all the more terrifying.

When the time came he followed the imperial guard through The Keep. He tried to keep up, but Artemis found that he had trouble swinging a sword, trouble lifting it. He sighed and said to himself, "I never thought my lack of physical strength would be this much of an issue."

"Yeah, you need strength to fight, my friend, or you'll die the moment you enter battle."

The raven-haired teen starred at the soldier, wide-eyed, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"We should get moving." Hadvar simply responded, as if he hadn't heard the question. Maybe he'd just imagine the non-programmed dialogue?

Artemis used his bracelet to store the sword in his items menu. He opened the magic menu accidently when he was trying to close the holo-screen. He decided to try it so long as it was already open and equipped "flames" and "conjure familiar" to cast as he pleased. Hadvar continued ahead, but stopped after a while, so Artemis decided to try out his magic. He cast "conjure familiar" and watched a purple vortex appear in front of him, leaveing a semi-transparent purple wolf in its place when it vanished. He reached a hand out to touch it, but pulled his hand back, thinking twice. Shaking his head, he followed after Hadvar. In reality, he could get there faster on his own because he already knew the path, but it might be better to keep the soldier with him.

It turned out that was a wise decision when they ran into a group of Stormcloak rebels. His familiar began attacking the rebels and Hadvar joined in. Even with both of them fighting one of the Stormcloaks came after him. Artemis began to panic, realizing he was on his own, and cast "flames" without thinking. When he opened his eyes Hadvar was staring at him and a dead body lay in from of him.

He sighed in relief then took their items into his inventory. _I'm lucky I didn't loose my bracelet when the world formed. _He thought.

Artemis followed through with the rest of the mission without much trouble. At some point he collected mage robes and switched to them, being that they were lighter than the armor he'd first gotten. By the time they arrived at the first town he was exhausted. The two of them entered the blacksmith's house and he collapsed in a chair. _I'm not used to that much work._ He thought to himself. He absently listen to the conversation going on, wondering if he'd gotten more than he'd bargained for.


End file.
